The Cayman Islands have been ranked the world's second safest island territory for travellers in a new international travel safety index that combines official government travel advice with broader safety indicators.

The ranking, published by Traveler Dashboard's Travel Advisory platform, places Aruba first with an overall score of 98 points, followed by the Cayman Islands in second on 94 points.

The Cayman Islands also received the highest possible rating under the United States Department of State's travel advisory system, which currently advises travellers to "exercise normal precautions" when visiting the jurisdiction.

Unlike rankings based solely on crime statistics, the Traveler Dashboard index uses a composite methodology designed to assess overall travel risk rather than crime alone.

40% of the overall score is based on the current U.S. State Department travel advisory level. A further 25% is derived from the World Bank's Political Stability and Absence of Violence indicator, another 25% from Traveler Dashboard's own travel risk assessment - which considers factors such as crime, terrorism and kidnapping - and the remaining 10% from Freedom House's civil liberties scores. Where one dataset is unavailable, its weighting is redistributed among the remaining indicators.

The methodology is intended to provide travellers with an overall assessment of destination safety by combining official government travel advice with measures of political stability, personal security and civil freedoms.

The Cayman Islands' second-place finish reflects its consistently strong performance across the index's safety indicators and reinforces the jurisdiction's reputation as one of the safest and most welcoming destinations in the Caribbean for both residents and visitors.

While travel safety rankings are based on the methodology and weighting chosen by the organisation producing the index, Cayman’s high placement highlights the territory's continued commitment to maintaining a secure, stable and visitor-friendly environment.